Map: Routes

Creating routes and viewing the soaring potential along the legs of the plotted route is as simple as clicking on the map. Below you can see a small triangle has been created in a relatively windy situation. The forecast is shown as a single plot connecting all legs of the potential flight as a cross-section.

There are several panel plot views of different parameters available as cross sections. They include thermal strength, thermal index, temperature, dewpoint and relative humidity analysis.

To understand the details on these plots, please check out the Map: Plots in General page here.

Moving your mouse or taping your mobile along any part of the plot will show the top of usable lift value as well as move a location marker (white dot) on the map along the route.

Here is an example of the wind plot across the route:

You'll notice the winds above the boundary layer strengthen considerably. This is illustrated in both color contours and wind barbs. Cross section plots such as these help provide additional context not seen by just viewing 2 dimensional layer on a map. In this case, this plot is showing potential for extreme wind shear and likely strong turbulence at the top of the lift.

You can read more about wind barbs here.

The relative humidity (RH) cross section plot is extremely useful because it depicts the moisture profiles up to 40,000 ft (12,000+ m) along the route. It is easy to identify areas of cloudiness and potential for overdevelopment and precipitation. Areas of high RH will show in red colors, and correspond to the colorbar on the plot.

Clicking on the "Route Details" button at the bottom of the plot will show a table with each route leg and the distance and bearning. Here is the same route for temperature with that selected.

Clicking on the green Save button allows you to save this route to the current profile you are using, or create a new profile altogether. This allows for easy review if you have "classic" routes you like to fly, or new routes that need very specific conditions to manifest.

All plots are dynamically scaled and resize when the web browser client or mobile device viewport changes size. Turning your mobile device sideways (landscape view) will automatically force the plot to resize to the full view for greater inspection of details.

Portrait vs landscape view mode on a mobile phone: